Stopping the World
by A Friend To Bubbles
Summary: And the world stopped. Nothing moved. The world faded away… until it was only Gilbert, screaming his brother's name, unshed tears yet to mingle with the blood of the dying German.


_** I have been in my room all weekend writing this nonstop. No joke. Please comment. enjoy.** _

* * *

The door slammed into Germany's face. Prussia peeped out from behind the doorway, torn between amusement and deadly fear at the look on his younger brother's face. He chuckled nervously.

"eheh, sorry West, I thought you were that boring General. You know, the one with the major stick up the…." Prussia trailed off, wisely deciding that it was a good time to shut up.

Germany slowly stood, pressing his fingers against his nose a moment longer before lowering them and sighing. "Anyway, Prussia, if you actually did your work or at least paid attention to it, you would know that America and China are attacking. We will be heading over to where they are in three days to ambush them. Get ready soon."

Prussia wailed "No one tells me anything!" and started tearing apart his office, looking for his lost lucky gun. Germany just shook his head and walked away, having already been ready for weeks.

-Time Skip—

* * *

They stood shoulder to shoulder, watching their troops setting up camp in the dying light. They were currently hidden behind one of the hills overlooking the valley below them, in which the German and Prussian armies would clash with the American and Chinese armies the next day. No words were spoken between the two brothers, but everything seemed to be running along smoothly. Finally, everyone was curled up in their tents, tensely waiting for dawn.

* * *

Germany woke with a start, stifling his scream as to not wake the camp. Trembling a little, he crawled outside quietly. It was still the middle of the night, and pretty dark. Germany thought back to his dream. If it was a dream. He shuddered. It felt more like a nightmare to crown all nightmares.

_He had been running in the battlefield, his left arm burning, frantically weaving through the battle. He'd caught a flash of white hair-Prussia?-before tripping and falling onto his back. Then his whole body was on fire, hurting so much he couldn't even scream. A black feeling of nothingness started to creep into his mind, and he heard screaming and screaming, echoing louder and louder until he woke up in a cold sweat._ Germany stayed out threading his fingers through the grass until he calmed down enough to maneuver back to his tent and fall asleep again, hoping for a dreamless rest of the night.

* * *

Prussia had to be dragged out of bed by Germany. Germany understandably did not appreciate this, and perhaps dragged his brother out of his tent a bit harsher than he normally would have.

"Wait! Wait! I'm too awesome to die! Noooo!" was the sound that the late sleepers woke to. The newcomers jumped and ran out half-dressed, expecting enemies in their camp, while the ones more familiar with the antics of Prussia calmly started getting dressed and armed.

Prussia realized that he was not, in fact, being murdered, and coughed, embarrassed. He stood, trying to dust himself off, and caught sight of Germany's face.

"Whoa! Bruder, you look terrible! "

It was true. Germany had spent the rest of the night tossing and turning in a sleepy haze. He had just drifted into a light sleep when he had been sent for to wake Prussia. A little concerned, Prussia reached out for his brother, but Germany slapped his hand away, barked an order to the waiting men, and spun on his heel and walked off to hurry up the few stragglers.

* * *

-Time Skip-

Every soldier was finally assembled and ready for the expected battle. They stood and waited for their enemies to march into the valley.

* * *

-Time Skip-

The sun beat down on them. Sweat dripping slowly, they stood unwaveringly. The American-Chinese troops could come any minute. They must all be ready then to take them by surprise.

* * *

-Time Skip-

They were finally pulled out of their gazing stupor by the sound of commotion in the valley. They were finally here! Germany and Prussia exchanged glances, then ordered their armies down to-

"ANGREIFEN! ATTACK!"

And the sounds of War commenced.

* * *

At first the battle was exhilarating. The ground vibrated slightly from all the shots and tanks and pounding feet. Gunshots could continually go off close to your ear, and you would have no reason to blink, because it probably wasn't aimed at you. It seemed like a deadly, chaotic dance with bodies dropping somewhere every second. Prussia and Germany fought together, sometimes back-to-back, sometimes side-to-side. Prussia spotted someone he thought might be China from a distance, so he and Germany started slowly making their way to him.

Several bloody minutes later, they had reached China. Prussia cocked his lucky gun (yay he found it...um …ahem) at China's head, but China turned in time to see him and dove to the right. He was back on his feet quicker than they expected and China had time to

fire.

**Bang bang bang** straight at Prussia's heart.

Germany shoved his older brother out of the way as quickly as he could, but could not escape the fire of bullets completely himself. He cried out as the three bullets split his left arm, cracking bone and spraying warm ruby blood up his neck.

Prussia couldn't see China and Germany from his new position on the ground, but he could hear the bullets whisk past him, and West's shout of pain. Prussia's breath caught in his throat for a second, but by reflex he grabbed his gun while sitting up and shot China.

**Bang bang**

China grabbed his side and gasped. …Too much blood…. He shot a dirty look at the brothers and ran away across the battlefield, limping. China crossed into the mountains…. on his way to Russia's, no doubt.

Germany gasped out "E-east. Are you O-ok?'

Prussia turned to him. "Stupid West! Why did you do that?" Tears sprung to his eyes but he forced them back. He repeated "Stupid West!" Germany just looked at him and replied

"I-if I didn't, you might be dead."

Unable to argue with his logic, Prussia brusquely replied "Come on then!" and tried to steer Germany to a doctor. And then it went wrong. Germany stumbled a little (just a little!) and Prussia bumped into him, setting himself back a step - and a body fell between them, cutting them off at the moment the crowd around them surged slightly. They were soon out of sight of each other.

Confused and more than a little worried about the other, each country started looking in the wrong direction.

"Germany!" Hours later, Prussia hadn't found his brother. He had accumulated several injuries, though. They were a clip from a bullet in his lower right arm, and several cuts on the left side of his head from falling debris. He looked up at the sky. Two fighting planes weaved around in the air while shooting at the other. Far in the distance, a helicopter moved, but it was too far away to see what country it was from. Prussia moved on and kept looking for Germany.

"Prussia!" Hours later, Germany had not found his brother. He had collected some more injuries, unfortunately. Such as cuts on his legs, neck, head, and chest from a grenade exploding too close to him. His uniform had been ripped up by that too. Scanning the fighting soldiers in front of him, he thought he saw America close to a pile of dead bodies. Running closer, he saw that he seemed to have his back to him. Slowly, Germany aimed his own lucky gun (not that he would ever tell Prussia) at America and clicked the trigger.

At the sound, America whirled around with… a grin on his face? A sharp pain at the back of his head immobilized him for a few seconds, but not before he noticed America's already loaded gun pointing at him. A trap. Gott Verdamnt! Germany could only watch as his stomach was filled with bullets.

Prussia picked up his pace. He had to find Germany soon; he felt something was very wrong. Running across the battlefield, his heart nearly drowned out the screams around him. This wasn't exhilarating anymore.

Germany staggered. He opened his mouth to scream but couldn't.

Gott

Gott

Gott

Gott this pain.

Blearily, he noticed America and his stupid thrice-damned backup walking away. '_**Coward'**_ he thought. He called after them weakly. "Feigling! What kind of Hero are you, using a backup like that?" Mistake. America turned and came towards him again, hateful fire burning in his eyes. Realizing his error, Germany stepped backwards but fell onto his back next to a large boulder.

America looked at Germany, chocking on his blood and pain, lying mortally wounded on the floor. He paused to bask in his own pride. "The best kind of hero." he answered smoothly, kneeling on his enemy's chest. He put his hands around Germany's throat.

America grinned maliciously and started to tighten his fingers slowly; feeling Germany's heartbeat beating faster the more America's fingers enclosed his throat. He bent over and whispered mockingly in Germany's ear. "Alle Hagel Deutschland."

Germany couldn't breathe. Gray dots danced across his eyes, and his whole body burned like hell.

Prussia kept running although he was gasping for breath. He was getting even more worried.

America fought back the desire to laugh at Germany's helpless face. Then he froze. He had just time to think WHA- before collapsing and rolling off Germany; his blood dripping from the hole in his forehead. The world superpower had been killed by a stray bullet through the back of his head.

Germany could breathe again. But he couldn't move. He watched one of the fighter planes fall to earth in flames. His eyes closed.

Prussia saw a pile of bodies at the edge of the battlefield and dashed behind the giant boulder next to them to escape the bullets shooting towards him. He panted, having barely escaped them, and turned. He saw America first. He was crumpled on the ground, covered in blood. Although Prussia couldn't see an injury on him, he wasn't breathing and was obviously dead.

Then he tripped over America, and landed next to Germany in a puddle of blood. Prussia looked up.

And the world stopped. Nothing moved. The world faded away… until it was only Gilbert, screaming his brother's name, unshed tears yet to mingle with the blood of the dying German.

"Ludwig…..Ludwig…..nein….bitte Gott…nein…."

_**Oh God, was he breathing? Please tell me he's still breathing….**_

Germany heard a familiar voice that he couldn't place. They sounded so heartbroken…. What was the matter? He struggled to open his eyes to see who it was…Oh, good, they were open now. The person was… Prussia!?

Prussia's heart leaped when he saw his brother's eyes open slowly and focus on his face.

"G-gilbert? You're o-ok!"

Prussia carefully pulled Germany's head into his lap and answered him, shakily relieved. "Y-yeah. I'm all right. But Gott, you gave me a scare. Please, let's get you to a doctor soon this time."

Germany smiled. He opened his mouth to talk but started coughing blood. He gripped Prussia's sleeves tighter and tried to stop.

Prussia's eyes widened in alarm. "No… no, West, calm down….kleine bruder you have to calm down!"

Germany said between coughs "N-no… I'm g-going….. t-to die… s-soon ….any"- he managed to stop coughing here. Panting a little, he continued "any…way… East."

"N-no. No, you're not, you're not!" Prussia screamed. "You're not going to die, I'm going to get you to help! You're not going to die….You're not going to die…"

Germany felt the same alien, dizzying blackness that he had dreamed about start to cloud his vision and numb his piercing pain. _**Wait… why was this so similar to his dream?** _He felt a small twinge of fear at his question.

Prussia had seen Germany's terrible injuries, and knew that the chances of Germany even surviving another hour were very small, but kept denying it to keep himself from breaking down. But his mantra had changed slightly. "You can't die…you can't die…"

Ignoring his unanswerable question, Germany tried to choke out one last thing to his older brother. "I-i-ich…"

Prussia shook his head. "NO, NO. Don't"-

He struggled. "I-ich …liebe… dich, Br-ruder…." His breathing slowed, now raspy.

"Ludwig" Prussia whispered.

"Please."

A tear slid out of his eye and landed on Germany's face.

Germany slid his hand into Prussia's.

He smiled sadly at his brother.

His eyes drifted shut.

And his breathing stopped forever.

* * *

Prussia stared in shock at his unmoving brother. He started sobbing. _**Ludwig Ludwig Ludwig Ludwig Ludwig Ludwig ….**_his thought circled around and around his head. Soon he was wailing, his face buried in Germany's bloody hair and his fingers twisted into his jacket, as if by hugging his brother close enough he could bring him back to life.

-_Time_-

A Chinese soldier ran behind the twisted wreckage twenty feet from where Prussia sat with the bodies of America and Germany. Seeing Prussia, he froze and quietly lifted his gun. Prussia didn't know he was there, too focused on crying.

**Bang.**

It seemed almost too quiet to be the cause of his death. But that must have been it, because he could already feel himself slipping away into fathomless black.

Prussia smiled as he died. He was going to see Ludwig again….. And this time, they would not be separated.

* * *

**Translations: **  
Bruder-Brother

Angrifen-Attack

GottVerdammt-Goddamn

Feigling-Coward

Alle Hagel Deutschland-All Hail Germany

Nein-No

Bitte-Please

Klein Bruder-Little Brother

Ich Liebe Dich-I Love You

**Before you kill me, I swear this story came alive and took me along with it, forcing me to change some of the plot as we went along. This did not come out as I planned at all,but I like it better this way any-*ducks behind wall from acorns*-way.**


End file.
